Chief says Santa Monica killings were premeditated

A Santa Monica police officer leads children on a field trip from Citizens of the World Charter School in Los Angeles out of Santa Monica College, where they had gone for a planetarium show, following a shooting in the area, in Santa Monica, Calif., Friday, June 7, 2013. Two people were found dead Friday in a burned home near the campus, where someone sprayed a street corner with gunfire. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

A weeping woman is comforted after being escorted off campus as Police swarm Santa Monica City College where a gunman shot numerous people Friday, June 7, 2013. A gunman with an assault-style rifle killed at least six people in Santa Monica on Friday before police shot him to death in a gunfight in the Santa Monica College library, authorities said. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Robert Gauthier) NO FORNS; NO SALES; MAGS OUT; ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER OUT; LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS OUT; VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT, TV OUT

An unidentified law enforcement official stands Saturday June 8, 2013, by weapons and other evidence recovered from the gunman in Friday's deadly shooting rampage that left four people dead, in Santa Monica, Calif. The gunman killed his father and brother at their home and another man at nearby Santa Monica College, authorities said. (AP Photo/Tami Abdollah)

Weapons and other evidence recovered from the gunman in Friday's deadly shooting rampage that left four people dead, in Santa Monica, Calif are displayed Saturday June 8, 2013, in Santa Monica. The gunman killed his father and brother at their home and another man at nearby Santa Monica College, authorities said. He would kill a woman outside the school library moments later, before dying from police gunfire.(AP Photo/Tami Abdollah)

The gunman who went on a chaotic rampage killing four people before being fatally shot by the police at a college campus in Santa Monica, Calif., planned the attack and was capable of firing 1,300 rounds of ammunition, the police chief said yesterday.

“Any time someone puts on a vest of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines, has an extra receiver, has a handgun and has a semiautomatic rifle, carjacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be neutralized at the hands of the police, I would say that that’s premeditated,” said Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks.

The suspected killer would have turned 24 yesterday, but Seabrooks wouldn’t identify him because his next of kin was out of the country. The police had an encounter with him seven years ago, but she wouldn’t elaborate because he was a juvenile at the time.

The chief spoke near a display of weapons and ammo recovered from Santa Monica College, where the killings ended Friday when the police gunned him down in the library, where students were studying for finals.

Among items on display were surveillance photos of a man in black entering the library with an assault-style rifle by his side.

The gunman, officials said, fatally shot one woman in the head outside the library before entering the building and opening fire as students ran for cover.

Students hid in what Seabrooks called a “safe room” in the library and barricaded the door for safety.

“They stacked items found in the safe room against the door, hunkered down and avoided shots fired through the drywall at them while they were in that room,” she said.

The violence, which lasted little more than 10 minutes, started about a mile away when the gunman began shooting at a house and it caught on fire. Two bodies were later found inside.

Two officials told the Associated Press that the killings began as a domestic violence incident and the victims in the home were the gunman’s father and brother. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

As flames rose from the house, the man, wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, shot a woman passing by in a car and carjacked another woman at gunpoint. He directed her to drive to the college campus, having her stop so he could shoot along the way, the police said.

He fired on a city bus, where three women were left with minor injuries. One had shrapnel-type injuries and the two others had injuries not related to gunfire. They were treated at a hospital and released.

The gunman also fired on police cars, bystanders and pedestrians, the police said.

From there, the chaos shifted to the college, a two-year school with about 34,000 students located among homes and strip malls more than a mile inland from the city’s famous pier, promenade and expansive, sandy beaches.

In a faculty parking lot on the edge of campus, he fired on two people in a red Ford Explorer that crashed through a block wall. The driver was killed, the police said, and a passenger was in critical condition after undergoing surgery UCLA Medical Center, doctors said. Yesterday, authorities identified the driver as Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, of West Los Angeles, who worked at the school.